Apartment antenna port

[A man]

I just got an apartment and they said there is a hookup to an external antenna
on the roof. I found a port (not for cable) which I have not seen before. It is
not for an RCA plug and is not a coax port. What kind of port is it and how do
I hook it up to my TV?

It is just large enough to go OVER an RCA plug but the RCA plug just falls out.
So it can't be for RCA plus. There are 2 copper wires coming off the back of
this port and they do not carry power. I checked for voltage.

Apartments look like they were built late 1970's early 1980s.

Thanks.

 

[Mark Fergerson]

I just got an apartment and they said there is a hookup to an external antenna
on the roof. I found a port (not for cable) which I have not seen before. It is
not for an RCA plug and is not a coax port. What kind of port is it and how do
I hook it up to my TV?

It is just large enough to go OVER an RCA plug but the RCA plug just falls out.
So it can't be for RCA plus. There are 2 copper wires coming off the back of
this port and they do not carry power. I checked for voltage.

Apartments look like they were built late 1970's early 1980s.

In the "Olden Days" there was something called Community
Antenna TeleVision (hence CATV, the original "cable TV") for
apartment complexes which allowed all tenants to use one
broadcast reception antenna. IIRC it was a 75 ohm system
that used threaded connectors not quite the same size as RCA
connectors. Later they used springloaded jobbies that slip-fit.

F-type, RG-6, and RG-59 come vaguely to mind as connector
and cable designations respectively.

HTH

Mark L. Fergerson

 

[Jamie]

300 Ohm molded twin lead? that was very common back then,
its obvious your knowledge of this stuff is some what
limited and makes it very hard for many here to picture
what exactly you have?
its very possible you may have a Female 300 Ohm receptical
which requires the Male end of it to a 300:75 transformer adapter.
if this is the case you should have 2 holes aprox 3/8 " apart on a
plate..
etc..

 

[Jerry G.]

You should be asking your building operator about this. I would not connect
my TV set to anything without knowing what it is about.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
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I just got an apartment and they said there is a hookup to an external
antenna
on the roof. I found a port (not for cable) which I have not seen before. It
is
not for an RCA plug and is not a coax port. What kind of port is it and how
do
I hook it up to my TV?

It is just large enough to go OVER an RCA plug but the RCA plug just falls
out.
So it can't be for RCA plus. There are 2 copper wires coming off the back of
this port and they do not carry power. I checked for voltage.

Apartments look like they were built late 1970's early 1980s.

Thanks.

 

[A man]

In the "Olden Days" there was something called Community
Antenna TeleVision (hence CATV, the original "cable TV") for
apartment complexes which allowed all tenants to use one
broadcast reception antenna. IIRC it was a 75 ohm system
that used threaded connectors not quite the same size as RCA
connectors. Later they used springloaded jobbies that slip-fit.

F-type, RG-6, and RG-59 come vaguely to mind as connector
and cable designations respectively.

The guy at Radio Shack said it sounds like a connector used for Ham radios
these days, and the connector looked like it would fit. The connector looked
like an RCA plug but with a long center post. Then I needed a convertor to make
it into a coax connector.

Does this sound right?

 

[Mark Fergerson]

The guy at Radio Shack said it sounds like a connector used for Ham radios
these days, and the connector looked like it would fit. The connector looked
like an RCA plug but with a long center post. Then I needed a convertor to make
it into a coax connector.

Does this sound right?

Pretty much. It's kinda been a while since I saw one of
these systems.

You said "they" explained this was for your TV to connect
to. Who's "they", the management? Ask them for more info
(warn them you'll sue them if your TV is damaged if they're
not forthcoming), or better, ask one of your neighbors how
they hooked theirs up and do that (get a good look at the
connectors if possible). If the building super (or
equivalent) did it for them and soaked them thirty bucks for
the connectors a class-action suit might be in the works.

Mark L. Fergerson

 

[Bob Masta]

The guy at Radio Shack said it sounds like a connector used for Ham radios
these days, and the connector looked like it would fit. The connector looked
like an RCA plug but with a long center post. Then I needed a convertor to make
it into a coax connector.

Does this sound right?
--

Not sure, but it sounds like you might have a UHF connector.
The receptacle on the wall will be a 1/2 inch diameter threaded
cylinder with teeth around the end and an insulating insert
with a central contact socket about 1/8 inch in diameter.

On the plug, the inner part is about 1/2 inch in diameter
and has two small teeth to mate in any orientation with
the receptacle teeth. The plug has a long center
post that is typically open. You insert the central conductor
from the back and heat the post while feeding solder to the
hole on the tip. The shield of the cable is stripped back
and folded over an insert thingy that is threaded into the
back, and an overall internal threaded sleeve mates with the
external threads on the receptacle.

You can probably find a ready-made UHF-to-whatever adaptor
that will eliminate the need for messing with cable.





Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

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